"It is rare that we praise Donald Trump, but meeting with both Kim Jung Un and Vladimir Putin was the right thing to do<\/b>. If our goal is to build peace, then calm talks, rather than threats and military escalation, are always the better path to take."<\/p>\n
CodePink Statement, June 17, 2018<\/i>. (Emphasis in the original.)<\/i><\/p>\n
Thus read CodePink\u2019s remarkable and courageous statement<\/a> in the wake of the Helsinki Summit. To link the word "praise" with President Trump is to invite ostracism in progressive circles \u2013 even when nuclear Armageddon is the issue. But CodePink succumbed neither to Trump Derangement Syndrome nor to the related disorder Russophobia.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Does CodePink\u2019s statement portend the dissipation of these twin maladies? Unfortunately not. CodePink appears to remain the exception, not the rule. <\/p>\n To understand this, let\u2019s turn to an "Open Letter<\/a>" in The Nation on July 11, just before the Helsinki Summit, signed by a variety of individuals and appearing under the names of five organizations<\/a>: RootsAction, Just Foreign Policy, World Beyond War, Progressive Democrats of America and Peace Action \u2013 a cross section of the progressive peace movement. Let\u2019s note at the outset that some of the Letter\u2019s signatories have done admirable work in combating Russophobia. <\/p>\n The title of the Open Letter is "Common Ground: For Secure Elections and True National Security." "Secure Elections" comes first, a device for once again reminding us of the discredited conspiracy theory of "collusion" in 2016. The opening sentence reads: "Many Americans remain deeply concerned about reports of Russian interference with the 2016 election." And fully half the Open Letter deals with this issue.<\/p>\n